MAX victims' families want Boeing to pay US$24 billion

BTN News
Thursday, 20 June 2024

The families of the two Boeing 737 MAX crash victims have sent a letter to the US Justice Department seeking 'aggressive prosecution' and US$24 billion from Boeing and those who were employed in senior roles by it at the time. 


The 32-page letter asks for a substantial fine, the imposition of corporate monitoring on Boeing plus criminal prosecution of Boeing’s then-corporate leadership.

The Justice Department and Boeing reached a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in January 2021 to resolve Boeing’s corporate criminal responsibility for the two crashes that killed all 346 people on the two flights. 

Under the DPA, Boeing had to improve safety and compliance in aircraft production and if it met its obligations, criminal charges against the company for concealing safety issues from the FAA were to be dismissed. 

But in April of this year, the Department concluded that Boeing had breached its DPA safety and compliance obligations - and the department asked the victims' families how it should proceed.

In the letter, the families asked for a quick public jury trial of the charge against Boeing, followed by the imposition of a US$24 billion fine. The letter explains that the US district court judge handling the case has found that Boeing committed “the deadliest corporate crime in US history,” judge Reed O’Connor from Texas said. 

Given the substantial losses to the victims’ families and Boeing’s aircraft customers, the letter explains that the maximum permissible fine against Boeing is US$24.78 billion.

The letter asks the Department to support such a fine, with part of it suspended. The suspended funds would have to be used for corporate compliance and new safety measures. 

The letter also urges the Department to ask Judge O’Connor to appoint an independent corporate monitor to review Boeing’s safety measures and to direct improvements as appropriate.

The letter also asks the Department to prosecute Boeing’s then-ceo Dennis Muilenburg (and other responsible corporate executives) for their personal role in concealing from the FAA the safety problems with the 737 MAX. The letter notes that considerable evidence against Muilenburg has already been collected by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which ordered Muilenburg to pay a US$1 million fine for concealing safety problems with the MAX from the public and from investors. 

Muilenburg was fired by Boeing in December 2019.

MAX victims' families want Boeing to pay US$24 billion

BTN News
Thursday, 20 June 2024

The families of the two Boeing 737 MAX crash victims have sent a letter to the US Justice Department seeking 'aggressive prosecution' and US$24 billion from Boeing and those who were employed in senior roles by it at the time. 


The 32-page letter asks for a substantial fine, the imposition of corporate monitoring on Boeing plus criminal prosecution of Boeing’s then-corporate leadership.

The Justice Department and Boeing reached a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in January 2021 to resolve Boeing’s corporate criminal responsibility for the two crashes that killed all 346 people on the two flights. 

Under the DPA, Boeing had to improve safety and compliance in aircraft production and if it met its obligations, criminal charges against the company for concealing safety issues from the FAA were to be dismissed. 

But in April of this year, the Department concluded that Boeing had breached its DPA safety and compliance obligations - and the department asked the victims' families how it should proceed.

In the letter, the families asked for a quick public jury trial of the charge against Boeing, followed by the imposition of a US$24 billion fine. The letter explains that the US district court judge handling the case has found that Boeing committed “the deadliest corporate crime in US history,” judge Reed O’Connor from Texas said. 

Given the substantial losses to the victims’ families and Boeing’s aircraft customers, the letter explains that the maximum permissible fine against Boeing is US$24.78 billion.

The letter asks the Department to support such a fine, with part of it suspended. The suspended funds would have to be used for corporate compliance and new safety measures. 

The letter also urges the Department to ask Judge O’Connor to appoint an independent corporate monitor to review Boeing’s safety measures and to direct improvements as appropriate.

The letter also asks the Department to prosecute Boeing’s then-ceo Dennis Muilenburg (and other responsible corporate executives) for their personal role in concealing from the FAA the safety problems with the 737 MAX. The letter notes that considerable evidence against Muilenburg has already been collected by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which ordered Muilenburg to pay a US$1 million fine for concealing safety problems with the MAX from the public and from investors. 

Muilenburg was fired by Boeing in December 2019.